Car and City: H1 2021 registrations of locally-made Tesla models

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- For the first half of 2021 (H1 2021), the insurance registrations of Tesla's two China-built models totaled 131,761 units, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).

Among auto brands in China, Tesla was the runner-up in terms of H1 new energy vehicle (NEV) registrations, only following SGMW (SAIC-GM-Wuling)'s Wuling brand (158,158 units). Moreover, both Model 3 and Model Y were among the top 3 locally-made NEV models regarding the first-half insurance volume.

There were 85,191 made-in-China Model 3s registered through H1 2021. The registrations for the second quarter (Q2) stood at 32,748 units, dropping from 52,443 units registered in the first quarter (Q1).

As for regional distribution of the China-made Model 3s for H1, Shanghai, where Tesla's first overseas vehicle plant is located, topped the other cities in China with a registration volume of 15,496 units, which were more than twice the number recorded by the runner-up city Shenzhen.

Aside from Shanghai and Shenzhen, there were 7 cities also logging H1 registrations of the Model 3 exceeding 2,000 units.

The four cities usually seen as China's largest and most developed urban metropolises, namely, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, and Guangzhou were all among the top 6 cities by H1 Model 3 registrations. Among the top 20, there were nine cities—Hangzhou, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Wuhan, Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Jinan, and Changsha—were provincial capitals.

According to China's the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), six cities in China registered car parc of over 4 million units as of June 2021, namely, Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Suzhou, Shanghai, Zhengzhou. They all entered the top 20 cities list.

For the first six months of this year, Tesla saw the registrations of the China-made Model Y reach 46,570 units, 64% of which were registered in Q2. Notably, the Model Y, which was put for delivery just in early January, even outnumbered the Model 3 in May.

Shanghai was still the city with the most China-built Model Ys registered in H1. Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou all appeared in the top 5 cities by semi-annual Model Y registrations. Among the top 20, there were 9 provincial capital cities, namely, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Jinan, and Changsha, which were also included within the top 20 cities by H1 Model 3 insurance volume.

In addition, the aforementioned six cities with over 4 million automobiles were all listed within the top 20 cities by H1 Model Y volume as well.